On the Menu: Wheatfields coming to Clifton Park

Wheatfields, a 20-year staple in downtown Saratoga Springs known for its homemade pasta, will open a second location in Clifton Park in the spring.

Owners Tim Holmes and Colleen Holmes will open Wheatfields Bistro and Wine Bar at 54 Crossing Boulevard in The Crossing, a retail and shopping complex that straddles Clifton Park and Halfmoon at Northway Exit 9.

Three stores will be combined into one to accommodate the 175-seat restaurant. It will be located in the same strip mall as Exit 9 Wine and Liquor Warehouse and Mr. Subb, near the clock tower. Remodeling costs will run $200 to $300 a square foot for the 5,100-square-foot venue, or between $1 million and $1.5 million, Tim Holmes said. Financing was arranged with First Niagara Bank. Details of the agreement were not released. Construction should begin in mid- to late-February with an opening scheduled for mid-May or early-June.

The couple began planning the second location about a year ago, before the economy soured.

“I don’t know if we would have started it today, but were already into it by then,” Tim Holmes said. “We still see tremendous opportunities out there. You just have to write a financial pro forma that’s reasonable with your sales expectations.”

Clifton Park is an attractive second location because its demographic sharply contrasts Saratoga Springs, a walkable city that relies on tourists for much of its business.

“We wanted to be in a completely opposite market,” Tim Holmes said of the suburban Clifton Park-Halfmoon area located about 15 miles south of their Saratoga Springs restaurant. The couple doubled sales at the Saratoga Springs Wheatfields since they bought it five years ago, Tim Holmes said.

Like the Saratoga Springs Wheatfields, the mid-priced Clifton Park location will open for lunch and dinner and offer as many as 30 types of wines by the glass. And while it also will serve the venue’s trademark homemade pasta, it will offer more European dishes than its Saratoga Springs counterpart. Clifton Park will also have the added feature of a wood-fired pizza oven and antipasto station at the bar. A 30-seat seasonal patio will open in the spring.

The restaurant will apply for a liquor license by the end of this month.

The town’s planning board gave final approval to the restaurant on Jan. 13. Board Chairman Steven Bulger says local restaurants usually fare well in the Clifton Park area because they offer an option to the town’s string of chain establishments.